I purchased a new leaning post and am having problems removing the old one. The screws are stripped out on the old cooler seat so I assume the feet secured by 5200 sealant. Does anyone have any advice on how to get the 5200 to release?

Heat gun or acetone. Not ever at same time.

I don’t know Pat, if he can burn the fiberglass around the base off, I think he’ll get those screws out!

Might try a Thermonuclear Device... But maybe pull some braid thru it... 3M does make some expensive remover

5200 is a complete pain to remove. It will break loose with a heat gun before you damage fiberglass. And then you get to deal with the goo left over.

I'd like to see his setup, might be better to drill out the screws, grind it down and cover it all with seadeck and mount the new one to that. But again, not giving that advice without looking at it.

I much prefer to use marinetex to keep screws in when you can't thru bolt something down.

There is really nothing that is just going to release that 5200. As mentioned, pulling braid under the edge using a sawing action works. Starting at the corners. You need some 100 lb braid, and two pieces of something like old round wood broom handle.

Use the broom handle in about 6" lengths for each hand, wrap and tie the braid to them. This way you can really get after the sawing action and not cut your hands. I use lots of heavy braid fishing, and heck I keep a couple of pieces of round dowel rod in my boat to wrap the braid around to pull or break my snagged lines off. Saves my hands. Your going to need these to help you with this project.

I would take a Razor blade holder and cut the edge as much as possible then use the braid to saw under the edge. Use something like a ratchet strap and pull from the top of your post over the edge of the gunnel of the boat and down to the trailer or anything you can get at right angles.

I like the 5200 for how it holds, but man when you have something like this, it's not easy to remove. Just pull from the top of your post to like the Transom and saw at it, then move the strap and pull toward to bow, and saw again much as you can and keep moving around. It will be Tuff, but with the strap pulling hard from the top of your post uses the leverage and you start sawing around the edges you will get where it will tear loose.

Then when you go back with the new, the 5200 can take forever to dry. So just keep that in mind with your plans. The screws only hold things in place till the 5200 dries lol. Good luck with this!

So what I’ve done is I’ve put a 2T jack underneath it. I’m going to heat on of the feet with a heat gun to soften it. I’m then going to saw each foot with braid. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Ok, just go little at a time. With the heat I have never used the braid, not sure how the braid will work with the heat. If not so we'll get some of the steel leader that is not vinyl coated or even some of the picture hanging braided wire might.

Just be aware that I have seen dealers actually pull some of the gel coat off on the aluminum feet and jack plates when they got a solid pull or push getting things off to change out.

For $15 I’d give it a go. 5200 is just nasty stuff.

My jack plate was replaced with a Bob's plate. They had it on with 5200. The glass guys said they would tear it off and have to repair the glass that came with it. I used the Unhesive and it finally came off by pushing a wide putty knife along the edges and kept putting more juice on it. It works.

That sounds great to me. The 5200 is no joke. It's like silicone on steroids lol... Great stuff till you need it off. I didn't know they had anything that would break that stuff down.

The very reason this website and all of us sharing things really makes this forum work...

After the nuclear holocaust, there will still be things stuck together with 5200. IslandJim

Anybody compared this to DeBond - I think that's the most popular way to soften up/remove 5200.